Chiefs wrestlers are hard-working kids, coach says

A significant obstacle to success in recent seasons for the Big Foot-Williams Bay wrestling team has come down to numbers.

And the Chiefs didn’t have enough of them.

But that looks like it’s about to change in 2018-19, as first-year head coach Tyler Heck has 20 wrestlers out for the squad.

Even though the core is young, with 15 of those 20 in the freshman and sophomore classes, that’s certainly a positive step forward.

“Having 20 kids in the practice room has been a great help,” Heck said. “This is one of the larger groups at Big Foot since I started back in 2014. We are going to see a lot of competition in December, so it will be a good chance to see where everyone stands for the rest of the year in the next few weeks.”

Heck added that, while many of the current crop of wrestlers has previous experience at either the club or high school level, the focus will be on continuous growth.

“It’s not all about the win/loss column at this point,” he said. “It is about putting ourselves in the best position to improve when it comes to tournament time in February.

“If this team can consistently show improvement from match-to-match and week-to-week, then I would think at the end of the year we would call this season a success.”

For his team to make those gains, Heck said it will be important that they take something away from every match.

Those are the learning and teaching moments that will prove valuable down the road.

Read more from the coach and see the full season schedule in the Nov. 30 Times/Reporter.